The research, surveying energy consumers across 17 countries, has exposed how central the customer experience has become, with a colossal 92% of respondents saying that they would be more satisfied if their energy provider personalized their overall customer experience. On top of this, 83% said that their satisfaction would be negativey impacted if a seamless experience wasn’t provided.

Those percentages are conclusive; consumers value personalization, demand seamless journeys and expect the very best customer service from their energy providers.

Energy firms are risking an exodus

If service offered by energy firms doesn’t match up to consumer expectations, the response is simple and swift; 73% say that they would consider switching if a seamless experience is not provided.

If there was ever a moment for energy providers to take a step back and assess how they approach customer experience, this is it. And if they can’t honestly say that they are facilitating personalized, seamless journeys then they need to make a change, and fast.

First, they need to assess whether their business is structured to be able to handle the omnichannel demands of their consumers. If they work in silos, then they won’t be. There needs to be an open line of communication between all departments to make sure that each consumer’s needs are fully understood across all touchpoints. A customer doesn’t see thirty departments when she contacts a company; she sees one business and one point of contact. Failing to understand this will inevitably result in a sub-par customer experience.

Address structural issues today

If you work at an energy firm that you believe is suffering from a lack of organizational alignment, then check out our Omnichannel Insights solution. It’s the quickest way to get an overview of where, how and why your organization needs to improve in order to thrive in an increasingly competitive, and diversifying, market.

After structuring for success, energy firms who aren’t delivering on the experience that their customers are looking for need to improve online, and offline, personalization. Providers should use Artificial Intelligence to better understand, and react to, the behavioral data on their websites. It’s only by understanding each individual visitor’s motivations, in real-time, that providers will be able to personalize each unique journey.

Personalize online journeys

That’s exactly what Now Interact’s Personalized Contact Channels solution does. It’s the only tool that connects the online journey with the sector’s largest contact channel; the call center. It’s the only tool that enables seamless journeys to be made from online to offline and then, if necessary, back online again.

And these seamless journeys are supported by our agent-facing SiteVision platform, which gives advisors in the call center unprecedented access to detailed and digestible information about each caller’s previous (and continuing) online journeys.

Seamless journeys, powerful results

Don’t just take our word for how effective these tools are at helping energy companies to meet pressing consumer demands; read about how we helped Essent to improve CX and increase sales conversion to 61% here, and how empowering Good Energy’s advisors with insights from the Artificial Intelligence delivers an average conversion rate of 50-70%.

Consumers are voting with their feet when it comes to customer experience. Energy companies need to realize this, and respond, in order to maintain a competitive advantage. The time to act is now.